Apple's Craig Federighi Confirms APFS Coming to Fusion Drives in a Future macOS High Sierra Update

[SMGreenfield]

And, as I've said in other threads, you CAN have an HDD APFS boot drive if you first format the HDD (or partition) to APFS and THEN install High Sierra on it.

I think the discussion about HDD and APFS is that the High Sierra install maybe doesn't offer the option for in-place boot drive conversion.

 

[JosephAW]

At least we know they're working on it.

Well, don't count on it until it's released. We waited and waited for 10.6.9 with iCloud support and even saw screen shots and promises from Apple but they decided to pull it.

 

[macsba]

Will High Sierra's APFS work with third party SSDs (upgraded from standard spinning HDD)?

Yeah, it works on third party SSDs. In my MBP, I have an OWC SSD and the High Sierra installer converted it to APFS. Seems to be working fine.

 

[stiligFox]

I’ve heard third party SSDs are missing the necessary firmware for error correction, going to try and email Craig and hope for an answer to see if it’s true or not...

 

[Yojimbo007]

My quote isn't about APFS. My quote is about the "coming in a future update" surrounding Apple's recent releases. I don't think any recent release was just released without a promise to release "the rest" at a later date.

It does not inspire confidence..
It seems they are slowly but surely falling behind on most things as time goes by.

 

[69Mustang]

It does not inspire confidence..
It seems they are slowly but surely falling behind on most things as time goes by.

It's not just Apple either. More and more companies are finding it acceptable to finish products after they're in customer's hands. For the most part, we accept it and some of us even make excuses for it. So I completely understand how companies think it's okay.

 

[B4U]

Are they going to do something about non-fusion drives, meaning plain old spinners?

 

[tokajilover]

i do have 2 x 1TB SSD in my 2011 17'MBP in RAID-0 2TB

what you guys think? Are they also ad the possibility to apply it on a SSD-RAID ?

 

[killawat]

Aren’t a majority of iMacs and a significant portion of MacBooks fusion drives?

iMacs yes, MacBooks no. No MacBook (including Pro) comes with a fusion drive configuration from the factory. It's not possible. Obviously one can crack open the MBP and add a second sata drive in the disk drive slot for Fusion functionality, but Apple never offered that.

 

[EightyTwenty]

Of course they're going to add support. Apple absolutely loves mechanical hard drives. They are so fast to ditch legacy tech, yet for some reason they just refuse to let go of mechanical hard drives.

It's a fetish; the slower the better.

The 7,200 spinners included back in 2010 were too blazing fast, so they cut back to 5,400 spinners for today's products. Apple is right on the bleeding edge, using hard drives in $1300 machines that were found in budget laptops over 20 years ago.

But I have no complaints. Who needs a SSD?! I turn on my iMac first thing in the morning when I wake up and by the time I come home from work that evening the machine is almost finished booting. Works great for my needs!

 

[ibrad33]

Where can I get that wallpaper

Ive been searching everywhere! if you find it - please let me know

 

[Cougarcat]

My quote isn't about APFS. My quote is about the "coming in a future update" surrounding Apple's recent releases. I don't think any recent release was just released without a promise to release "the rest" at a later date.

Regardless, I think the same thing applies, especially with iMessage Sync. That’s something you don’t want to screw up.

 

[Glassed Silver]

Sweet Jeebus. What isn't coming in a future update? One could be forgiven for thinking Apple has adopted the video game industry's motto: Release now - patch later.

I miss the times when Apple didn't feel the need to release a new major version every year and yes: when upgrades still cost money, because you had to be convinced. They tried harder back then.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[fivenotrump]

Are they going to do something about non-fusion drives, meaning plain old spinners?

Unlikely I feel: probably not worth the effort for minimal gain

 

[fpsBeaTt]

Aren’t a majority of iMacs and a significant portion of MacBooks fusion drives?

MacBooks? What? Not as a first party option, that's for sure. Older models where people have swapped out the optical drive for an SSD + HDD combo, yes.

 

[thekeyring]

Of course they're going to add support. Apple absolutely loves mechanical hard drives. They are so fast to ditch legacy tech, yet for some reason they just refuse to let go of mechanical hard drives.

I agree with you, and I don't understand it. SSDs are clearly much better than traditional hard drives. macOS runs incredibly slowly on HDD based system. If Apple didn't want to optimise macOS for non-SSDs, they shouldn't sell Macs with SSDs. Even if that meant they had to remove the cheapest iMac, MacBook Pro, etc from the lineup.
[doublepost=1506413554][/doublepost]

Are they going to do something about non-fusion drives, meaning plain old spinners?

At the very least, they need to stop selling Macs with spinning disk drives.

 

[fpnc]

Yeah, it works on third party SSDs. In my MBP, I have an OWC SSD and the High Sierra installer converted it to APFS. Seems to be working fine.

I’ve heard third party SSDs are missing the necessary firmware for error correction, going to try and email Craig and hope for an answer to see if it’s true or not...

YES, I have this same question and concern. Just because a third-party SSD seems to work doesn't mean that it will work correctly with APFS. Of course, Apple may just say that they haven't tested all SSDs and therefore they will only stand behind their own drives.

 

[solipsism]

This was supposed to come out last year and then they pushed it to high Sierra and now I can't even get it on my Mac I just bought this summer. so annoying. I don't even see any other reason to upgrade to high Sierra

Where did Apple state that APFS was going to arrive with Sierra?
[doublepost=1506415007][/doublepost]

Will High Sierra's APFS work with third party SSDs (upgraded from standard spinning HDD)?

Of course. It also works with HDDs, too.
[doublepost=1506415334][/doublepost]

Well, don't count on it until it's released. We waited and waited for 10.6.9 with iCloud support and even saw screen shots and promises from Apple but they decided to pull it.

You link to these screenshots that Apple marketed? I see macOS 10.6 coming out in 2009 and iCloud arriving in 2011 with macOS 10.6 never even making it to 10.6.9. It seems unlikely that Apple would promise a brand new feature on an OS that was being obsolesced.
[doublepost=1506415445][/doublepost]

Of course they're going to add support. Apple absolutely loves mechanical hard drives. They are so fast to ditch legacy tech, yet for some reason they just refuse to let go of mechanical hard drives.

Assuming Apple would ditch low-cost, high-capacity drives when there's no reasonable solution from SSDs is not inline with Apple's MO.

 

[SnowLucas]

I’m confused as to why the average user using a fusion drive or regular hard drive would really care about this not being included in the first release. Seems to be a lot of people complaining this “feature” is missing and Apple have somehow failed. What advantage to a regular HDD are you missing out on?

As for people who have the beta and are stuck on APFS. You do understand what a beta is right? If you’re running beta software, allow that software to change your file system and don’t have a backup plan then you really need to rethink the sense in running macOS betas.

 

[solipsism]

I’m confused as to why the average user using a fusion drive or regular hard drive would really care about this not being included in the first release. Seems to be a lot of people complaining this “feature” is missing and Apple have somehow failed. What advantage to a regular HDD are you missing out on?

As for people who have the beta and are stuck on APFS. You do understand what a beta is right? If you’re running beta software, allow that software to change your file system and don’t have a backup plan then you really need to rethink the sense in running macOS betas.

They are being ridiculous by complaining that a brand new file system still needs some features and testing added to make it work with a clever CoreStorage setup, but there are certainly reasons why APFS is a desirable option for all Apple OSes, even HDDs. For me, the improved security and how items are copied are huge benefits that I employ on my external RAID, which is all HDDs.

 

[Jaekae]

Sweet Jeebus. What isn't coming in a future update? One could be forgiven for thinking Apple has adopted the video game industry's motto: Release now - patch later.

And when they getting close to finishing patching they release next big version and start from beginning again, because consumers want yearly upgrades but not possible gor software engineers to keep that schedule

 

[TheTissot11]

How does Craig keep track of everything!

He doesn't that's why macOS has lots of bugs not fixed in last four years.

 

[Gorms]

Guys, we really need to stop emailing Craig.

 

[chucker23n1]

Sweet Jeebus. What isn't coming in a future update? One could be forgiven for thinking Apple has adopted the video game industry's motto: Release now - patch later.

Except with the video game industry, you pay $60 for an incomplete product.

In this case, you get a perfectly fine operating system, for free. They chose to delay a feature because of (presumably) reliability issues, and you'll get that later — but it doesn't make the user experience worse than the predecessor 10.12.x, and it isn't essential.

 

[69Mustang]

Except with the video game industry, you pay $60 for an incomplete product.

In this case, you get a perfectly fine operating system, for free. They chose to delay a feature because of (presumably) reliability issues, and you'll get that later — but it doesn't make the user experience worse than the predecessor 10.12.x, and it isn't essential.

You kinda missed the point I was making. It's about the "coming in a future update" culture. I'm not sure when it became the norm to release unfinished product, but it's definitely the norm now.